Diet Beverages Linked To Increased Stroke Risk & Heart Attacks

This study, as well as other research on the connection between diet beverages and vascular disease, is observational and cannot show cause and effect. That’s a major limitation, researchers say, as it’s impossible to determine whether the association is due to a specific artificial sweetener, a type of beverage or another hidden health issue. “Postmenopausal women tend to have higher risk for vascular disease because they are lacking the protective effects of natural hormones,” North Carolina cardiologist Dr. Kevin Campbell said, which could contribute to increased risk for heart disease and stroke. “This association may also be contributed to by rising blood pressure and sugars that were not yet diagnosed as hypertension or diabetes but warranted weight loss,” thus leading the women in the study to take up diet beverages, said Dr. Keri Peterson, medical advisor for the Calorie Research Council, an international association representing the low- and reduced-calorie food and beverage industry. Yet, said Sacco, who is also chairman of neurology at the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine, the more studies there are coming up with the same associations, “the more you begin to question. The more you begin to feel strongly about the association being real.” Critics also point to the possible benefit of artificially sweetened drinks for weight loss, a critical issue considering the epidemic of obesity in the United S...
Source: WBZ-TV - Breaking News, Weather and Sports for Boston, Worcester and New Hampshire - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Health News CNN Heart Attack Stroke Source Type: news